This week i observced the ways my teacher involves the class daily. Mostly the class discusses the topics of the day and the teacher then writes the notes he thinks are important on the board. My CT generally tries to get the kids to come up with the answers to his questions and this starts up the different discussions that go on throughout the classes. When the topic permits my CT will try to make the kids give reasons and explain why they answered certain ways, but from what i've observed usually the classes haven't been too involved with critical thinking yet. My CT generally has lower level kids because from what I've gathered from talking with him and others he works well with the students. This is why my CT sometimes needs to be careful about what he does with the students. When the class is doing discussions or the teacher is asking questions it does flow ratrher well due to the pace that my CT asks the questions and how he varies the people he calls on.
Reflections:
In my class i want an atmosphere of learning through discussion because i think many topics in science can be better understood by talking about them. Science isn't always set in stone and there are many different topics that kids can have opinions about. i think that having these types of classroom discussions really stimulates the learning if students can be touched by a certain idea and made to defend it. By defending their points they can also display good use of scientific terms etc. i know that as a teacher instruction must be varied and ou can not alweays be giving notes,not always having big discussions, but i do realize that a very important aspect of the every day class is getting students involved, thinking, and maybe even excited about what they are doing. My plan to foster discussion and learning in my classroom will be to both call on many different people and also to give my students opportunities to really think about a topic by asking intriguing questions. i hope my classroom can be a place of discovery and excitment over new ideas.
Observations:
This week i observced the ways my teacher involves the class daily. Mostly the class discusses the topics of the day and the teacher then writes the notes he thinks are important on the board. My CT generally tries to get the kids to come up with the answers to his questions and this starts up the different discussions that go on throughout the classes. When the topic permits my CT will try to make the kids give reasons and explain why they answered certain ways, but from what i've observed usually the classes haven't been too involved with critical thinking yet. My CT generally has lower level kids because from what I've gathered from talking with him and others he works well with the students. This is why my CT sometimes needs to be careful about what he does with the students. When the class is doing discussions or the teacher is asking questions it does flow ratrher well due to the pace that my CT asks the questions and how he varies the people he calls on.Reflections:
In my class i want an atmosphere of learning through discussion because i think many topics in science can be better understood by talking about them. Science isn't always set in stone and there are many different topics that kids can have opinions about. i think that having these types of classroom discussions really stimulates the learning if students can be touched by a certain idea and made to defend it. By defending their points they can also display good use of scientific terms etc. i know that as a teacher instruction must be varied and ou can not alweays be giving notes,not always having big discussions, but i do realize that a very important aspect of the every day class is getting students involved, thinking, and maybe even excited about what they are doing. My plan to foster discussion and learning in my classroom will be to both call on many different people and also to give my students opportunities to really think about a topic by asking intriguing questions. i hope my classroom can be a place of discovery and excitment over new ideas.Andrew Duquette
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